Smart City? A civic worker tries to open a manhole to drain a flooded street in Bhubaneswar after a spell of rain Wednesday pic: Bikash Nayak
Post News Network
Bhubaneswar: At least 17 persons were killed and around 20 critically injured in separate lightning incidents across the state Wednesday, authorities said.
“We have received reports of 17 lightning deaths today,” the Emergency Operation Centre of the Special Relief Commissioner’s office said. The deaths were reported from Kendrapara, Khurda, Bhadrak, Ganjam and Mayurbhanj districts.
In Kendrapara, two persons died in Keredagada village while one boy was killed in Daruora village under Rajnagar police limits. Similarly, another person died at Karanja village under Mahakalapada block.
Police said Bhaskar Sethy (60) of Keredagada village was killed while he was going home from his field. Mali Mallick (37), wife of Sarat Mallick of Keredagada, was also killed by a lightning bolt. A 15-year-old boy identified as Subrat Rout, son of Santosh Rout of Daruora village in Rajnagar, died while herding cattle, while Mathura Das (38) of Karanja village was killed in a thunderstorm.
A total of eight people were injured by lightning in the district.
Reports from Khurda said three persons were killed, while three suffered critical burns at Panchagaon village on Sundarpada-Jatni road on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. Likewise, a man near Dhauli died after being struck by lightning.
Lightning claimed four lives in Hinjli block in Ganjam district and two of them were from Sikharpur village under Hinjli block where two people also injured. Meanwhile, a security guard was killed due to lightning in a factory at Talcher in Angul, while two girls were killed and two others critically injured due to lightning at Khuntapala village under Rasgovindpur block in Mayurbhanj.
This apart, one person of Kandagaradi village and another of Bisrampur village of Chandbali block in Bhadrak were also killed in lightning.
With this, the total number of lightning deaths this month touched 25. Eight persons died in different lightning incidents in the state May 1. The office of SRC said the total number of lightning deaths till date in 2016-17 is 85.
Lightning claims more human lives than any other natural disaster in the state.